What We're Drinking at NYFW: Fullsteam Beer

Also at the Raleigh show, we got to sample some beer from Fullsteam, a two-year-old craft brewery in Durham, North Carolina, that was a semi-finalist in this year's James Beard Awards. By using only Southern ingredients, they're able to buy local and add basil, sweet potatoes, persimmons, and other things you don't typically associate with lager and ale. Carver, an amber ale named after Washington Carver (a teetotaler himself), was particularly good: The sweet potatoes added a richness like you might have tasted in a pumpkin beer before, but it didn't have any of that pumpkin-pie spice that sometimes makes lagers like this feel a bit gimmicky for fall. It's also available all year. The CEO of the company, Sean Lilly Wilson, drove up overnight and delivered the taps himself; hopefully, the beer will soon be more widely available in places far beyond The South. Right now, though, Wilson said the brewery is at full capacity.